Tourism Industry Business Retention and Expansion Project

A community-focused economic development project to enhance tourism offerings and grow tourism businesses is beginning in Hinton. Local tourism related businesses are encouraged to participate in this important project.

The Tourism Industry Business Retention and Expansion Project (TIBRE) is designed to identify business retention issues and expansion opportunities for existing tourism businesses in targeted municipalities. The project involves the identification of existing and eligible tourism businesses and visiting them to assess their health and intentions. The project helps existing tourism businesses optimize their operations by identifying challenges and implementing solutions to help them grow.

“Through the Tourism Business Retention and Expansion Project, Community Futures West Yellowhead is aiming to show existing local businesses their importance to Hinton by asking them about their needs, future plans, and how they think the local tourism business environment could be improved”, said Helen Kelleher-Empey, Chair of Community Futures West Yellowhead Board of Directors.

Tourism is a driver of the economy in the community and provides an important source of employment for locals.  Said Brian LaBerge, Hinton and Region Economic Development Coalition (HREDC) “We are pleased to support this important initiative in Hinton that will help grow our tourism industry.”

Business participation in this community economic development project is essential to its success. It will also strengthen collaboration between tourism-focused organizations and the local business community to further develop tourism in the community.

The first stage of the project is to visit with Hinton tourism related business owners, which will be starting shortly and will be completed by December 21st. In the next few days, tourism businesses will receive a letter detailing how they can participate. Individual information and comments will be confidential, but aggregated information will be shared in a report to the community. Combined with other tourism research, the report will be a valuable resource to help solve local problems, plan for future tourism businesses, and promote the community.

The TIBRE project was piloted in Drumheller in 2018 and the response from business leaders and the community was very positive. Julia Fielding, Communications and Economic Development Officer, Town of Drumheller, said, TIBRE allowed Drumheller “to get more detail on the local tourism industry, what the issues were, and what we needed to do to support these businesses moving forward.  The project was great, and the partnerships developed were fantastic.  We really care about our businesses and how we can start moving forward getting more jobs and businesses in town.”

The Hinton TIBRE project is a partnership between Community Futures West Yellowhead and Alberta Tourism.

For more information, contact:
Nancy Robbins
General Manager
Community Futures West Yellowhead
780-865-1224
nrobbins@albertacf.com